Join your colleagues in San Diego, September 12-15, 2010, for IBTTA’s 78th Annual Meeting & Exhibition, the year’s most highly-anticipated learning and networking event — attracting more than 700 toll industry experts and decision makers from across the globe. Under the theme, Sustainable Transportation, the technical program offers tracks focused on innovation, policy, the economy, and the California tolling experience. Hosted by the California Toll Operators Committee (CTOC), this event features interactive seminars, influential speakers, technical tours and special events, informative exhibits and more! Register and make your hotel reservations today! Visit IBTTA’s website for details.

Join your colleagues in San Diego, September 12-15, 2010, for IBTTA’s 78th Annual Meeting & Exhibition, the year’s most highly-anticipated learning and networking event — attracting more than 700 toll industry experts and decision makers from across the globe. Under the theme, Sustainable Transportation, the technicalprogram offers tracks focused on innovation, policy, the economy, and the California tolling experience. Hosted by the California Toll Operators Committee (CTOC), this event features interactive seminars, influential speakers, technical tours and special events, informative exhibits and more! Breaking News! The Hilton San Diego Bayfront has reduced the contracted room rate from $241/night to $219/night. The new rate applies to all existing confirmed reservations and any new reservations. Customized sponsorship and exhibitor packages are available. Visit IBTTA’s website for details.

THE International Institute for Strategic Studies (better known as the IISS), reckons China now has more warships than America, which long possessed the biggest fleet. Strangely enough, India is the only nation in this list which is already not a member of the U.N. Security Council. Given the amount of threats India has to deal with along its lengthy coasts and the national security needs might propel the country into this race for the biggest fleet.

This is quite unsettling for many of us fliers who live in the DMV (DC, Maryland, Virginia) region. What’s more alarming is this part of the article: “The number of errors by air traffic controllers has risen dramatically nationwide this year. FAA records are compiled on a fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The total by TRACONS during the last fiscal year was 754. With a month left in the current fiscal year, the error total has reached 1,257.”

On-board systems intended to keep airliners from colliding in midair have been triggered more than 45 times this year in the skies over the Washington as the air traffic controllers who guide planes to and from the region’s airports have made dangerous mistakes at a record-setting pace.

Two of the closest calls this month involved four airplanes carrying a total of 589 people, including one in which a Delta 737 was turned into the potentially deadly turbulent wake of a United 757 as the two planes flew along the Potomac on final approach to Reagan National Airport.

The team found that “more than 45 such events have been documented this calendar year” in which the avoidance systems have been triggered in Washington airspace, according to an internal FAA summary. The systems, required on all planes carrying 19 or more passengers, kick in and order pilots to take evasive action when their sensors indicate a potential midair collision.

This is very unsettling and scary as hell for many reasons and I’ll list just the top two concerns: (1) Personally, I work in Washington, DC. (2). It was flying around for almost half-hour without any supervision.

The situation could get really worse if someone hacked into the system and took control over the craft (in real life when this beast comes armed with some missiles) while it is in flight.. Technology is good until it starts malfunctioning!

The charmingly named, 31-foot-long MQ-8B Fire Scout Vertical Takeoff and Landing unmanned aerial vehicle was flying at an altitude of 2,000 feet on August 2 when the Navy completely lost control of the craft due to, they say, a “software issue.” It continued, guided only by its own probably-evil robot brain, for about half an hour, flying 23 miles into restricted airspace. The Navy re-established control when the drone was just 40 miles from the nation’s capital.

It is amazing what all you get to see on the internet.. Oh, this is NSFW! Man drives a hay tractor, suddenly jumps out of the driver seat while the machine is still moving..Strips down to nothing and jumps into the machine, come out of the machine bundled up in hay..

I’m not sure what would drive someone to do something like this but this man clearly needs only one reason to do anything – a rolling video camera. That’s all it took for someone to make him do this!

I was out of words when I saw this.. So were many of us on the internet, which lead to this man quickly earning his 15-minutes of fame.. He accepted a $700 fine and a one-month license suspension after the police caught him..

All this poor 29-year-old from Melbourne, Australia wanted was to recycle a barbecue he’d seen wasting away on the side of the road. Sadly, you can’t do something this ridiculous and not become an internet sensation and police target.

Kiwi Michael Wiles saw the discarded BBQ on the side of the road and decided it would make a nice addition to his home. Driving only a motorcycle, he had to fit the BBQ over his body by actually wearing it. Putting his body through the lower storage area sort of makes sense, but wearing the grill itself on his helmet seems to have sparked the most trouble.

It Can Cost More to Fly to Hartford Than Barcelona. What Airlines Consider in Setting Prices. I have always wondered about this issue. And am glad that someone is trying to answer this.

Image Courtesy: WSJ.com

Airline ticket prices often seem like a brain-teaser with little logic. From Chicago, a flight to Miami is more than twice as far as a flight to Memphis, but the shorter Memphis flight costs 25% more on average. Fly to Washington, D.C., from Hartford, Conn., and the average fare is nearly three times as high as if you flew to nearby Baltimore from Hartford, according to government data for the first quarter of this year.

The fares travelers pay typically have little relation to how far you fly, even though airline costs are largely dependent on the length of a flight. Long trips often cost less than short trips. Flights of the same time and distance can have radically different prices.

The price you pay for a ticket is driven by a number of variables: competition, types of passengers, the route and operating costs. But the biggest factor, by far, is whether discount airlines fly in a market. Low-cost carriers often set the price in markets because competitors feel compelled to match that price or risk losing customers and flying empty seats. And when they aren’t there, big airlines behave radically differently when setting prices.

If the centuries old New York City Subway can do this, why not in DC’s relatively new and modern subway system? That would make many commutes productive and possibly serve as an incentive for region’s drivers to shed the cars and take the trains to work. I can’t imagine a better town than DC for adopting this technology, because on any given day we have more folks commuting with their Laptops, iPods, iPads, e-readers, etc. It is a shame that we still can’t get the cellphones to work inside the tunnels for more than one carrier.

With the days of paid Wi-Fi clearly numbered, what business models are there for transit agencies and wireless service provider partners to consider? In the first part of several installments, this week we’ll look at Transit Wireless LLC, which is rolling out wireless networks in New York’s extensive subway system.

In 2007, the New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) awarded a 10-year communication infrastructure contract to Transit Wireless LLC — a conglomerate of construction and wireless companies — that would bring mobile phone and Wi-Fi service to the 277 stations within the city’s subway system. NYCTA’s parent, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, approved the contract in September 2007 but did not give the official notice to proceed until July this year. The project stalled due to lack of sufficient funding, but was restarted after financing was provided by Broadcast Australia, a Sydney-based multinational that also installed wireless in Hong Kong’s subway. Broadcast Australia, in turn, is controlled by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board in a convoluted chain of ownership. Under the terms of the original 2007 deal, the NYCTA would earn in excess of $45 million from an estate lease over the 10-year term; Transit Wireless will cover all network construction costs and generate revenue from mobile carriers such as AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, who would provide cellular service over the Transit Wireless network.

The whole roll-out is expected to cost around $250 million including the payments to the NYCTA; work will commence on the first six stations in Manhattan by September, with live service expected in all six within two years. The remaining 271 stations will be completed within the next six years, although a spokesman for Transit Wireless stated that up to 15 stations a month could be outfitted during the rolling program. Phone and Wi-Fi coverage will be available only in the stations, on platforms and part-way into adjacent tunnels; the contract does not stipulate contiguous coverage throughout the subway system. In addition to consumer services, the Transit Wireless solution will serve public safety organizations by providing the source of a cell phone’s signal within a station, improving incident response times.

Get involved in the TRB sponsored 2011 International Transportation Economic Development Conference. Submit an abstract! Subjects and perspectives will include public and private sectors; academic, practitioner and policy issues; theory, concepts and operational tools; and all transportation modes and their relationship to economic development. All abstracts must be received by Wednesday, September 15, 2010. Authors should take care to ensure that abstracts submitted follow the guidelines shown (see http://www.ited2011.org/program.html).

Questions can be directed to conference planning staff at Meetings Northwest (866-633-8110).